Only 6% of adults in the United Kingdom identify as practicing Christians, while 42% say they are non-practicing Christians, and one in three non-Christians say they want to know more about Jesus Christ, according to the findings of a recent survey, Talking Jesus.

As many as 70% of those who identify as Christians are white Brits, who represent 83% of the U.K.’s adult population, says the survey, adding that 25% of those who identify as Christians are ethnic minorities, although they represent only 12% of the U.K.’s adult population.

The survey of more than 3,000 U.K. adults, commissioned by five Christian organizations, also found that 4% identify as agnostics, and 12% as atheists.

“It’s a significant drop that shows that our reach has diminished, and we’ve got less contact,” Rachel Jordan-Wolf, executive director of Hope Together, a group involved in the research, was quoted as saying.

She added, “There are more non-Christians who don’t know an active or practicing Christian. So that’s something really to watch. It could be because of the pandemic, as we’ve all not been out and about as much. But these are often significant relationships, so someone they call a friend or family member.

The study also showed that a quarter of Brits describe Jesus as a “normal human being,” and 33% as a prophet or spiritual leader, and not God.

However, while only 6% of Brits identify as Christian, the survey revealed that 45% of people believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, and 20% believe He is the Son of God.

Asked where would people go to find out about the Christian faith, 26% said they would search on Google, 22% said they would go to a local church, 22% said they would read the Bible, and 15% said they would talk to a friend or a family member who is Christian.

The survey, which was also featured by the Church of England on its website, further showed that 62% of non-Christians describe the Christians they know as friendly, 50% as caring, 33% as good-humored, 32% as generous, 19% as authentic.

The groups that commissioned the survey included Alpha, Evangelical Alliance, Luis Palau Association and Kingsgate Community Church.

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor Monday, May 02, 2022

Source: Only 6% of UK adults identify as practicing Christians: survey | World

As pro-Hamas protests sweep U.S. campuses across our nation, a curious phenomenon has surfaced: a large number of the protesters are wearing not only the keffiyeh, but also the COVID mask.  Why is this, exactly?

The keffiyeh-wearing is not much of a mystery.  The protesters are clearly making a statement of solidarity with Islamic jihad in general and with Hamas terror in particular.  But the COVID masks add an intriguing twist.  Some of the mask-wearers themselves maintain that they are trying to “stay safe” — in what they believe is the ongoing COVID “pandemic.”  Other observers have postulated, however, that this is an effort by the protesters to hide their identity.

There are possible elements of truth in both of these reasons, but beneath these layers, something much deeper is going on — and it involves a powerful impulse that serves as the foundation of leftist utopianism itself.

We would do well to reflect upon the manner in which the Maoist Cultural Revolution in China imposed unisex desexualized dress on its citizens.  The tyranny perpetrated this as a ruthless war on gender differences and individuality in the name of “equity.”  And this war involved a calculated assault on the possibilities of private attractions, affections, and desires.

The central reality to gauge here is that unisex/desexualized dress satisfies leftists’ morbid pining for enforced sameness.  It is crucial, in their world, to erase physical as well as emotional differences and attractions between people.  In the utopian endgame, humans must all be replicas of one another and be devoted to the cause, the revolutionary state, and to its all-knowing administering of “equality” and “social justice.”

It is no surprise, therefore, that Western leftists were enthralled with the Maoist social engineering experiment.  I have documented this in my book United in Hate, where I show how fellow travelers who journeyed to worship at the altar of the Maoist killing fields flew into ecstasy upon witnessing the unisex clothing.

Let’s recall a few examples:

American leftist academic Orville Schell adored China’s enforced mode of dress the moment he witnessed it. In his book, In the People’s Republic, he praised the “baggy uniformlike tunics” and wrote admiringly how “the question of the shape of a person’s body is a moot one in China.”

Schell was excited that physical attributes were subordinated in intimate relationships. He wrote that the Chinese had

succeeded in fundamentally altering the notion of attractiveness by simply substituting some of these revolutionary attributes for the physical ones which play such an important role in Western courtship.

Schell also noted approvingly that “the notion of ‘playing hard to get’ or exacerbating “jealousies in order to win someone’s love does not appear to assume such a prominent role.”  American actress Shirley MacLaine joined Schell in being deeply enamored with China’s totalitarian puritanism. Like all leftists, she would have surely viewed any restriction on women’s attire or sexual impulses in her own society as patriarchal and capitalist oppression, but for the Chinese people, the suffocation of unregulated love and sex was a magnificent thing in her eyes. In her book, You Can Get There, she wrote:

I could see for myself that in China you were able to forget about sex. There was no commercial exploitation of sex in order to sell soap, perfume, soft drinks, soda pop, or cars. The unisex uniforms also de-emphasized sexuality, and in an interesting way made you concentrate more on the individual character of the Chinese, regardless of his or her physical assets, or lack of them. . . . Women had little need or even desire for such superficial things as frilly clothes and make-up, children loved work and were self-reliant. Relationships seemed free of jealousy and infidelity because monogamy was the law of the land and hardly anyone strayed. . . . It was a quantum leap into the future.

For French leftist Claudie Broyelle, meanwhile, one of the key accomplishments of the Maoist revolution was the cancellation of the “privatization of love.” In her book, Women’s Liberation in China, she gleefully stressed how love in China was now to be expressed not through personal and selfish capitalist avenues, but only through “revolutionary commitment.”

Broyelle noted with profound satisfaction that good looks were no longer important for Chinese women. Unlike the sexualized image of women in Western advertising, she boasted how, in China, there was a different image:

On wall posters, in newspapers, on the stage, everywhere. It is the picture of a worker or a peasant, with a determined expression and dressed very simply. … You can see her working, studying, taking part in a demonstration.

Schell, MacLaine, and Broyelle never, of course, spoke of the brutal truths that stared them right in the face. They didn’t dare to ask: How could jealousy possibly arise, or infidelity be practiced, in a society where privacy did not exist and infidelity would land you in a concentration camp at best, and get you executed at worst? What if a Chinese citizen chose not to forget about sex and made his lack of forgetfulness evident? And what if a man or a woman wore clothes that did not deemphasize his or her sexuality? What would happen to them? It is clear, of course, why these leftists never asked these questions — and why they also never visited a Chinese concentration camp to investigate who was imprisoned there, how they were suffering, and why.

The yearning for totalitarian puritanism that was witnessed among leftists in Maoist China does not mean, of course, that leftists are non-sexual. To the contrary, many of them are highly sexually promiscuous and also passionately active in promoting promiscuity. The issue here is what cause is being served. Women’s “sexual self-determination” is, for instance, adamantly supported by leftists if it enables their war against their own host democratic-capitalist societies — and if it can hurt the Judeo-Christian tradition. But if a totalitarian adversarial society is stifling women’s rights in this context, then leftists vehemently support that oppression, since they typically worship the particular tyranny in question, and gleefully welcome the threat it poses to their own host society — which they hate and want to destroy.

It is important to remember how, some fifty years ago, the terrorist group Weather Underground not only waged war against American society through violence and mayhem, but also encouraged promiscuity — while forbidding private love — within its own ranks. This constituted an eerie replay of the sexual promiscuity that was enforced (while private love was outlawed) in dystopian novels such as We, 1984, and Brave New World. All of this is precisely why the radical left and Sharia supporters detest Valentine’s Day — since it is a day devoted to the love between a man and a woman, a bond that dangerously threatens the totality.

And so we begin to understand why, just as the devotion to totalitarian puritanism played a central role in the left’s solidarity with Maoist China (and with other vicious Communist regimes), so too it serves as a core component of the left’s current romance with Islam — which at this very moment involves campus pro-Hamas protesters bowing to Allah.

Indeed, Maoists’ unisex clothing rules find their parallel in Islam’s mandate for shapeless coverings — to be worn by both males and females. The collective “uniform” symbolizes submission to a “higher entity” and cancels out individual expression, mutual physical attraction, and private connection and affection. And it becomes obvious how the COVID face-coverings fit this totalitarian matrix perfectly.

Thus, just as Orville Schell, Claudie Broyelle, and Shirley MacLaine were enchanted with the enforced Maoist dress that attempted to desexualize Chinese citizens, so, too, the new generation of leftists solemnly genuflect before the Islamic hijab, niqab and burqa — and also before the “pandemic mask.” The Islamic and COVID coverings, like the Maoist uniform, attract leftists by virtue of not only how they negate individuality and personal connection, but also how they reflect humans being mandated to wear them in a tyrannical setting. Longing to submerge themselves into a totality where even their own choices will be negated, leftists are always drawn to a totalitarian entity within which they can lose themselves. And it is in this twisted paradigm that these lost individuals — who suffer from an immense feeling of alienation — finally feel connected to something. They finally belong.

As I document in United in Hate — and in my work Jihadist Psychopath — all of these forces explain why leftists today are on the side of the Sharia-enforcers who persecute and kill women who dare to not wear hijab. To be sure, it is transparently evident why leftist feminists in particular callously turn their backs on murdered Muslim girls such as Aqsa Parvez and Mahsa Amini — and heartlessly ignore, for instance, the suffering Iranian women and girls who are today imprisoned, raped, and killed for Islamically covering themselves.

And so, there is no real mystery about what is transpiring on U.S. campuses today.  The left is simply continuing its Maoist cultural revolution and, therefore, just dutifully obeying the rules of Sharia and “pandemic safety” that it cherishes with such sacred devotion.

Thus, the pro-Hamas protesters on campus today are not really wearing masks because they want to “stay safe.” It is, and always was, about something much deeper than that. They are bowing to the totality. Worshiping at the altars of Sharia and of the COVID cult is a magnificent blend for these true believers; it’s a delicacy to be savored. In their seething hatred for humans, and in their unquenchable lust to control who and what humans are, the self-appointed social redeemers of our time are waging war on what makes us human — and on their own self-hating and self-reviling selves.

The leftist enterprise has always been a death wish — a suicidal odyssey to shed oneself of one’s own unwanted self and in that process to blur oneself into a collective totalitarian whole. And it is in this despotic swamp that they find their purpose, meaning and sense of belonging.

Today, what we are witnessing on university campuses is just the next logical chapter of the harrowing progressive tale. The pro-Hamas protesters are simply just fine-tuning their leftist journey, and their masks simply represent how successfully — and hauntingly — they are achieving their self-abhorring goal of self-annihilation.

Jamie Glazov holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in Russian, U.S., and Canadian foreign policy. He is the editor of Frontpage Magazine, the author of the critically acclaimed and bestselling, United in Hate and Jihadist Psychopath, and the host of the web TV show The Glazov Gang.  His new book is Barack Obama’s True Legacy: How He Transformed America. Follow him on Twitter: @JamieGlazov and GETTR: @JGlazov – and contact him at jamieglazov11@gmail.com.

Source: The Real Reason Pro-Hamas Protesters Wear Masks – American Thinker

My wife tells wonderful stories of being raised on a steady diet of simple Sunday School songs that were not only doctrinally rich, they also stuck in your mind like glue.  I didn’t encounter such songs until I was in my early 20’s but their simple message and catchy tune can bring a smile to a believer of any age.  One of my early favourites was called “The Countdown Song”.  In one of the verses, it reads: “Soon will the trumpet sound, and we’ll rise off the ground; with Christ forever will we be.  Children, where will you be, throughout eternity? The countdown’s getting lower every day!”

That song sums up a simple truth: the countdown is indeed getting lower every day.  For believers, that is exciting.  However, this leads (or should lead) to believers asking themselves a question.  If the Lord will indeed catch His bride away soon, how should I be spending my days?  Ephesians 5 leaves us in no doubt because verses 15 to 17 say this:  “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.”  A similar admonition is given in Colossians 4:5: “Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.”  In both passages, we see reference to a “walk”.  In other words, how we live.

In the Ephesians passage, the word “circumspect” comes from two Latin words that mean “looking around”.  The term carries with it the idea of precision and accuracy.  The opposite of that would be to walk carelessly and without proper forethought.  In Australia, there is an expression we use that characterises the laid-back nature of the country – “she’ll be right, mate”.  In other words, somehow, somewhere, everything will work out and I won’t need to lift a finger to do anything.  Perhaps that attitude may work for some people, but Paul would contend otherwise.  If we are to walk earnestly in this Christian life, it must be with our eyes fixed on Jesus and our heart attuned to the will of God.  Sadly though, we see many believers who drift through life, never really making the most of opportunities to live for Christ.

I mention the word “opportunity” for good reason.  Do you notice the word “port” in the middle?  That should give you a clue as to its origins.  The word “opportunity” comes from an old Middle French term (“opportune”) which hails from a Latin word (“opportunus”) which literally means: “toward the port”.  It was a term used by sailors to describe that time when the wind changed its direction and started to blow towards the port.  This was the time when it was most favourable to steer the ship into the harbour.  The ship’s captain would have needed to develop the skills of navigation, vision, communication and leadership in order to take full advantage of the winds of opportunity.

Today, spiritually speaking, we also see winds blowing.  However, they are not necessarily refreshing winds, but harsh winds of evil that are blowing across our nations.  Perhaps we feel victimised by them, particularly if those winds are blowing believers into the fires of persecution, suffering and evil.  But just as the ancient sailor waited for his “opportunity”, what if this is ours?  Because of the prevalence of evil in Paul’s day (and ours) the danger is that the sight of evil may cool the love and diminish the zeal of the believer to contend for the faith and proclaim the gospel.  Hence the need for a determined eagerness in the face of such winds.  You see, the Greek word for “time” is referring to opportunities.  In other words, be alert to God’s will and be ready to grab those opportunities when presented.  Think of a shrewd merchant who sees opportunity for a profit and grabs hold of it.  As C T Studd once said, “Only one life, ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.”

But as the days roll on, I am sensitive to the fact that many are growing weary.  We lift our eyes to the sky and wonder aloud, “How long, o Lord, how long?”  In October 1968, the Olympic Games were staged in Latin America.  It was one of the hottest afternoons of Mexico City when the men’s marathon started at 3pm.  Out of the 74 participants, 17 could not finish the race.  At 7pm that evening, almost an hour since all marathon runners had crossed the finish line of the 26-mile marathon, a lone runner emerged through the stadium gate.  This man could no longer run, so he hobbled.  Many spectators had since gone home, but some remained to witness Tanzanian runner John Stephen Akhwari cross the finish line in bad shape.  Earlier in the race, he had fallen and hurt himself badly.  He was bruised, bleeding and in significant pain from a knee injury.  Considering the severity of his injuries, Akhwari was repeatedly asked to quit the race, but he rejected those pleas.  When asked what on earth compelled him to continue even though he was in no condition to race, he replied: “My country did not send me 5,000 miles just to start the race; they sent me 5,000 miles to finish the race.”

Dear believer, you were born for such a time as this.  You may feel like that runner – alone, bruised, hurt, defeated, not knowing how on earth you are going to make it across that finish line.  But God did not send you to this age so you could simply start the race and then quit.  He sent you here so you could run the race He set for you and grab hold of the prize.  So, the message is clear: fix your eyes on Jesus, take the opportunities presented and run, dear Christian, run.  The finish line is just ahead.

Dean Dwyer has served for over 20 years as Pastor and President of Eiser Street Baptist Church in Queensland, Australia.

Source: Harsh Winds Of Evil Are Blowing Across Our Nations… Don’t Miss Any Opportunity – Harbingers Daily

By the first century, Rome had conquered a vast region of the known world, from modern-day Portugal on the west, to what we now call Iran and Iraq on the east. Rome controlled the largest portion of what would become Great Britain at the northern tip of the empire and portions of modern Morocco, Algeria, Libya and Egypt on the southern edge. At its peak, 60 to 70 million people lived under Roman rule, and they worshiped a vast array of mythical gods.

Rome’s early governing strategy was simple: allow each conquered people group to retain their gods so long as these deities were assimilated into the pantheon of Roman gods. Mythical deities were popular at this point in history, including Mithras, Osiris, Attis, Adonis, Heracles, Dionysus and Serapis. You might have read about some of these gods in an ancient history class, but none of these relics are worshiped today.

Yet, duly noted on the timeline of world history, first-century Rome also ushered in an unlikely candidate for global transformation. To paraphrase the famous poem “One Solitary Life,” He was born in a tiny, irrelevant town and raised in an insignificant village. Jesus walked from one place to the next, and as an adult, never traveled more than 200 miles from the town where He was born. The locals suspected He was an illegitimate son, and His mother and father were poor peasants. He didn’t receive an expensive education, never married, never had children and never owned a home of His own. He only appeared for a short time before public opinion turned against Him and most of His followers abandoned, betrayed or denied Him. He was rejected by the religious, hunted by the powerful, mocked and unjustly persecuted by His enemies. He suffered an unfair trial, was publicly humiliated, brutally beaten and unduly executed in the most horrific way. Even then, the few followers who remained had to borrow a grave to bury Him.

Yet this man—Jesus of Nazareth—changed history, introduced a whole new calendaring system, and forever transformed the most important and revered aspects of human culture. He is still worshiped today, while the vast majority of first-century gods are long forgotten. How is this possible? What differentiated Jesus from all the other gods worshiped in the Roman Empire? It’s simple: Jesus rose from the grave and was observed by eyewitnesses following His resurrection.

The resurrection of Jesus is true. It can be confirmed by direct evidence: the testimony of eyewitnesses. The worshipers of Mithras, Osiris, Attis and others placed their trust in ancient mythologies based on folklores rather than verifiable, recorded history. Those who observed the resurrection of Jesus, on the other hand, testified about Jesus based on their own firsthand observations. More than 100 of His followers gathered following His ascension. On another occasion, He appeared to more than 500 at one time, most of whom were still available to the readers of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 15:6).

The evidential nature of Christianity provided it with a unique advantage. The resurrection, locked in the timeline of history and documented by eyewitnesses, distinguished Christianity from every first-century religious claim in the Roman Empire, and continues to do so today.

Fast forward to 1996. Jesus was still being worshiped across the region of the now fallen ancient Roman Empire, and He was also being celebrated as far away as Southern California. That’s where I learned about Him. I was 35 at the time, a committed atheist and a homicide detective. I found myself in a church service, sitting dutifully with my wife. The pastor that day described Jesus as “the smartest man who ever lived.” I was provoked enough to buy a Bible to see what was so smart about this ancient sage. That led me to the Gospels. As I read them, I began to recognize characteristics of eyewitness testimony, given that I had interviewed hundreds of witnesses by that time in my law enforcement career.

Was the story about Jesus true? I decided to test the Gospel authors by asking the same four questions I would typically ask of any eyewitness in a criminal investigation.

• Were these authors really present to see what they said they saw?
• Could their claims be corroborated in some way?
• Were they consistent, or did their story about Jesus change over time?
• Were they motivated to lie?

For the next six to eight months, I investigated the death and resurrection of Jesus like the many cold cases I’ve solved over the years.

I discovered that the Gospels were written early enough to have been penned by authors who had access to true eyewitnesses. Luke’s Book of Acts, for example, lacks any description of the destruction of the Jewish Temple (in A.D. 70); the Roman siege of Jerusalem (in the late 60s); the death of Peter or Paul (between A.D. 64 and 65); or the death of James, the brother of Jesus (in A.D. 62). These omissions are reasonable if Luke wrote this New Testament book prior to A.D. 62, and if so, he would already have completed the Gospel bearing his name. Paul must have had access to this Gospel written by his friend, as he quoted from it in his first letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 11:23-26), written in the mid-50s. That places the authorship of Luke between A.D. 50 and 55.

Mark’s Gospel (quoted repeatedly by Luke) was clearly written earlier and available to Luke as a resource. Both Gospels were penned early enough to have been constructed from true eyewitness accounts (as Luke declares in the opening lines of his Gospel) and “fact-checked” by those who were living at the time.

I also discovered that the Gospel accounts could be corroborated in several ways, including archaeology. Historical figures such as Pontius Pilate (Matthews 27:2); Erastus (Romans 16:23); Sergius Paulus (Acts 13); and many more have been verified and confirmed by archaeological discoveries. The Gospel authors also accurately described the cities and geography of the region, the popular names for men and women at the time, and the correct governmental processes and procedures employed by the Jews and the Romans. The authors even documented these truths using a form of Greek that was popular in the region in the first century.

The claims of the Gospel authors were also preserved over time. My experience documenting the “chain of custody” for any piece of evidence in a criminal trial helped me to trace the claims of the New Testament authors over the centuries. The students of the Apostle John, for example (Ignatius, Papias and Polycarp), reiterate John’s claims without any modification. Ignatius and Polycarp then repeated the Gospel claims faithfully to their student, Irenaeus, without altering them. As I examined the ancient letters of these Church Fathers, I discovered that the truth about Jesus could be reconstructed from their letters to one another and to local congregations. The facts about Jesus were never altered along the way.

Finally, I investigated the motives of the Gospel authors. My experience investigating homicides taught me that there are only three reasons why anyone commits a murder, and these are the same three reasons why people lie: financial greed, sexual desire and the pursuit of power. As I examined the lives of the Gospel authors, I found that none of them had anything to gain in any of these areas. Christians in the first three centuries (prior to the Roman Edict of Milan), suffered for their commitment to Jesus. Christians were persecuted during this time. Many lost their possessions, their standing within their family and community, even their lives. If the claims related to Jesus were untrue, they would have been the most dangerous and consequential untruths anyone could utter.

The Gospel authors passed the four-part test I typically applied to eyewitnesses in my criminal cases. Their written accounts reliably and accurately described the resurrection of Jesus without ulterior motive. When I realized this was the case, everything changed for me. I’m inclined to assign a higher level of authority to someone who has demonstrated His divinity by rising from the grave. I reread the words of Jesus from a new perspective, and once I realized the New Testament was telling the truth about Him, I started to pay close attention to what it was saying about my predicament. It accurately described Jesus as God incarnate with the power to forgive sins and shoulder the cost of human rebellion. It accurately described me as a fallen, defiant sinner in need of that kind of Savior.

Jesus still answers that need today. Our sinful imperfection separates us from a perfect and Holy God, but our remedy can be found only in Jesus, if we profess Him as Savior and Lord. Jesus is the uniquely sinless, perfect Man who proved His deity, confirmed His authority and changed human history by rising from the grave. He’s changed the eternal fate of millions of lives along the way. If you’re ready to surrender your life to Christ, He can change yours as well.

J. Warner Wallace is a Christian apologist and former Los Angeles cold-case homicide detective who has been featured numerous times on NBC’s “Dateline” program for his crime scene expertise.

Source: Former Cold-Case Homicide Detective: Christ’s Victory Over Death Is Indisputable – Harbingers Daily

Source: We Are To Reach Today’s Culture… Not Compromise To It – Harbingers Daily

The Greatest Scam in All of Human History

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.  — Ephesians 5: 11

The left-over expression vectors used to manufacture the mRNAs are at contamination levels 100-fold higher than originally proposed and imply trillions of DNA molecules per dose. This has implications for integration into our genome. — Jessica Rose

The old saw tells us it takes only one bad apple to spoil the barrel. Unfortunately, one good apple in a barrel of bad apples does not have a corresponding positive effect. There are, be it said, a small number of good apples in a vast Covid-scam barrel of absolutely horrendous and rotting bad apples, but it has taken an inordinately long time for the better influence to be felt.

Quantitative biologist Alex Washburne, an extremely good apple, has posted a major essay, “Scientists For Science – the “boys will be boys” of science,” in which the tactics, strategies, intentions, and deceptions of the globoid villains are laid out plain to see. The con they have promoted is almost beyond belief, both in its scope and its success. Almost every country in the world, the financial elite, corporate Pharma, and the political class as a whole are implicated, with only a few exceptions like Sweden and Belarus. Professors Fredrik Andersson and Lars Jonung revel in the fact that Sweden, almost unique among nations in its pandemic policy, recognized that “China’s authoritarian government should not have served as a guide for a liberal democracy.” Belarussian President Aleksandr Lukashenko claims that the World Bank and the IMF offered him $940 million to impose “extreme lockdown on his people,” force them to wear face masks, decree strict curfews, establish a police state, and ultimately crash the economy.

The sordid affair begins with bum science. A group called Scientists For Science, which Washburne dubs the “pathogenic academic lobby,” includes such prestigious figures, among others, as National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) director Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Francis Collins, Peter Daszak at EcoHealth Alliance and Jeremy Farrar, head of the Wellcome Trust. All have “financial conflicts of interest connecting [them[ to the Wuhan labs” and “ties directly to the researchers of concern [who] may have caused the pandemic.” Washburne is being ginger here, relying on a modal rather than a declarative, but the purport of his 16-page thesis leaves no doubt that such was the case.

In 2018, Washburne writes, Daszak raised the ante “by inserting a furin cleavage site in a bat SARSr-COV infectious clone.” In 2019, he continues, “a bat-related SARSr-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, emerged in Wuhan, walking distance from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, containing a furin cleavage site never before seen in a SARS-CoV, leaving no trace in animal trade networks, emerging with remarkably high affinity for human receptors, and containing unusual stitches in its genome consistent with an infectious clone.” The damage had been done. Despite the standard run of bastard fact-checks to the contrary, something was created not found in nature, which no vaccine could effectively combat.

These scientists insisted they were not practicing gain-of-function research, that is, deliberately enhancing a pathogen, and that the virus was of zoonotic origin and not a bioengineered phenomenon. But they lied. “Scientists For Science corrupted scientific power,” Washburne laments, “and used their positions in unethical ways such as prompting, ghostwriting, and promoting the false claim that a lab origin is ‘implausible.’” Fauci brought a network of highly conflicted funders and scientists together “and surgically excluded experts without these conflicts of interest.” These actors “formed research cartels defined by shared beliefs, and they despised the people who tried to regulate them.”

What is actually terrifying is that they “engaged in unfathomable risk-taking and likely caused a pandemic resulting in 20 million deaths without adding anything of industrial value to the world. They admitted there was nothing of known industrial value down this path, but they went down that path anyways…They just wanted to enhance the pathogenicity of pathogens for papers, grants, fame, and an esoteric understanding on the mechanisms of disease without direct application to industry or biodefense.”

Accordingly, they proceeded to mobilize an extensive media and iatric campaign to promote the claim that lab origin theories were conspiracy theories and to denounce their critics as charlatans. They represented themselves as “the science” and their adversaries as “anti-science” when the opposite was the case. They used their “official positions of power to overturn [an earlier] moratorium on this risky research.” History, Washburne concludes, “could even hold Fauci, Collins, and Farrar responsible for this outbreak through a mix of their funding for Daszak and their support of Scientists For Science.”

As noted, Washburne accuses these faux scientists of taking so massive a risk under the pretext of discovering antidotes, none of which even remotely existed or were hypothesized. But there is clearly a political aspect to this confidence game as well. As Jeffrey Tucker writes, the Covid virus and the associated pandemic was “an industrial plot to impose a vast censorship regime on the planet.” Tucker’s devastating critique of pandemic science should be studied by everyone with a functioning mind and a responsible stake in the culture. The regulations the authorities imposed on a fearful, ignorant and compliant public were insane and contra real science. “Finally, they said they had a magic potion that would fix the problem. It’s a new thing, a gene therapy that comes wrapped in little capsules that we inject into your skin. It’s been tested as 95 percent effective, and you know that’s true because it is a number with a percent. There are no side effects even though there was no way they could know that regardless.”

Similarly, in the words of Dr. Toby Rogers, the biowarfare industry has captured capital itself. Pandemics, chronic disease, and response is a growth industry—one of the only growth industries on Earth at this point. DNA is the new terra nullius to be conquered and colonized.” What is striking about Covid, he continues, “is that every step was designed to inflict maximum harm. Actual science was always ignored. Every action by government for four years degraded the health of the public.”

The partial list he provides of such venal and internecine measures is sobering: Blocking access to hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. Respirators that kill 90% of patients. Seeding nursing homes with Covid+ patients. Closing schools for two years. Masks that reduce oxygen. Keeping liquor stores open while closing the churches. Closing hiking trails, beaches, and parks, thus preventing people from getting vitamin D. The application of useless and deadly drugs like Remdesivir and Paxlovid. Firings, censorship, and blacklisting of critical thinkers. And what we might regard as the follow-up strategy to the lab-generated virus, i.e., the most toxic and deadly “vaccines” in history—which are not vaccines but gene therapy substances intromitted by an mRNA lipid shell delivery system.

“A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land,” thunders the prophet Jeremiah, when leaders and priests speak falsely, enrich themselves and lead people astray. So it is today. Spurious science, political motives, and vaccine treachery obviously go together in a composite bundle of extortionate artifice: reputations were to be made, increasing control over the public arena to be secured, and immense fortunes to be amassed. The pandemic itself was not what it was made out to be. One wonders how long it will take, if ever, for the public to shed their masks, refuse the boosters, and demand that the bad apples who inflicted this unnecessary catastrophe upon us be brought to justice.

By DAVID SOLWAY

Source: The Greatest Scam in All of Human History – PJ Media

Some four years ago, the radical left staged what amounted to a coup d’état and took control of the United States government.  The events surrounding that coup — and the horrific policies that followed — have been described many times: the COVID “vaccine” hoax, rigged elections, imprisoning dissenters, weaponizing the Judiciary, open borders, the pointless killing in Ukraine.  Yet no one has explained why all this happened or how to stop it.

The fact that no scholars or media have even attempted to explain this power-grab itself partly reveals the explanation.  If we ask why people on the left took power, then eventually someone will ask why people on the right allowed it to.  The next logical question then arises: why should we continue listening to them, following them, giving them money…?

Preaching to the converted and hurling anathemas at the left can accomplish only so much, and yet this is what we the politicians, pundits, and parlor intellectuals of the professional right mostly do.  If we want to extricate ourselves from this debacle, we must start examining what the right — and the rest of us — are doing wrong.

Failure of the Right

The conservatives’ defeat is so glaring that some are finally acknowledging what to everyone else is obvious.  “The establishment Right’s failures over the last generations have been manifold,” writes one, belatedly:

Since the end of the Cold War, what trajectory-altering successes or victories can the Right cite to demonstrate its worth? … Despite spending billions of dollars supporting its infrastructure … the establishment Right has registered no clear gains and many clear losses.

“You could even argue that it abetted most of it[s defeats],” another suggests.  “Where official conservatism’s opposition hasn’t been ineffectual, it’s been collaborationist.”^[1]

So they admit to squandering our trust (and donations) as pointlessly as the government they criticize squanders our taxes.  Isn’t it time we start asking why?

None of this excuses the rest of us.  If the establishment right allowed the left to win, we all allowed the right to lose.  Excoriating “RINOs” and neocons can become as unconstructive as inveighing against leftists.  The only remedy lies in re-examining serious mistakes we would all rather just forget.

The Rise of the Politicos

The first stage in the coup was when Americans abdicated control over their civic life to paid professionals.  Instinctively, we blame elected “politicians” for our ills, but their puppet-masters in the larger political class may pose the greater danger.

This innovation came from the left, with the invention of “public interest” lobbying firms (today’s almighty “NGOs”).  Corporate lobbyists have a bad name because their money buys politicians and legislation on behalf of wealthy interests, but in the long run, those who claim to speak for us and the “public interest” may do more to undermine our freedom.

So effective were they at imposing elitist, leftist agendas on the population that they were quickly imitated by rightist versions.  Thus was born the Washington political class: professional surrogate citizens we pay to perform the duties of citizenship for us.

These firms do not “empower” citizens; citizenship is precisely what they eclipse and muzzle.  Like courtroom lawyers advising their clients, the message of the lawyer-lobbyists to the citizenry is, “Be quiet and let me do the talking,” as if we are accused criminals on trial.  Small wonder that that is precisely what we are becoming.

Nothing did more to decimate America’s civic culture; transfer power to a judicial priesthood; and entrench an ideological duopoly operated not simply by Democrat and Republican politicians, but by the larger political classes of left and right.  Media, universities, “think-tanks,” and other cultural institutions abandoned their detachment and joined the ranks of professional advocates and activists.

Eclipsing the Churches

The professional pressure groups also displaced the civic organizations that traditionally provided moral leadership and channeled citizens’ voices in opposition to governments’ abuses of power: churches.  Since long before the American Republic was even founded, churches served vital civic functions without which the United States as we know it would never have come to exist and for which no substitute is possible.

Professional conservatives complain endlessly that the left hates religion and seeks to have it “banished from the public square.”  But it is the professional conservatives themselves, with their lobbies and law firms (ostensibly “Christian” or not), that pushed the churches out of active public engagement — or gave them the excuse to run away.

Unlike citizens and churches, whose interest lies in resolving public problems so they can return to the business of life (earning a living, spending time with the family, saving souls), professional operatives on both left and right have a vested interest in perpetuating the problems they are paid to solve.

This principle lies behind all our ills.

Blueprint for the “Deep State”

When explaining the tyranny closing in around us, we naturally blame centers of hidden and unaccountable power: rogue security services, health authorities spreading illness, plutocrats re-engineering the planet.

But these are not where it began.  Like many good intentions gone awry, it all began with how we addressed the most basic problem of modern industrial society: the problem of the poor.  If the “Deep State” is defined as powerful people using impersonal bureaucracies to forcibly control the private lives of millions of non-criminal citizens, the original “Deep State” is the welfare state.

The 2020 coup began with George Floyd’s death in a Minneapolis ghetto — that is, within dysfunctional and violent welfare communities.  Welfare also provides the political base for groups like Black Lives Matter and elevates mediocrities like Kamala Harris to office, starting usually as prosecutors before becoming politicians.

Welfare accomplished what slavery and segregation could not: it destabilized the African-American family and created a permanent underclass of impoverished single mothers, fatherless children, and criminalized fathers.  Because every social pathology is directly attributable to fatherless homes, the result was a self-destructive horde of criminals, delinquents, truants, addicts, prostitutes, and derelicts that proceeded to tear down their own communities and quickly populated the world’s most massive prison system.  It also created armies of functionaries to administer their lives, with a self-interest in perpetuating their dependency and expanding the havoc.  It also bred an angry subculture of victimization, entitlement, and resentment.

The Canary in the Mineshaft

But the welfare state’s pivotal achievement was the degradation of a figure whom everyone, left and right, now loves to hate: the young, low-income black male.  Conservatives cite wasteful social programs as proof that America is not racist and even expect gratitude, but none of the programs benefited black men in any way.  All served to marginalize and emasculate the black male: state officials usurping his provider role with numerous handouts to single mothers, along with the acquisition of quasi–police powers by social workers that not only usurped his protector role, but then targeted him as the foremost threat to his own women and children, with measures ostensibly against “child abuse” and “domestic violence” and enforcing “child support.”

The resulting tidal wave of both real criminality and concocted criminalization, parallelling similar trends elsewhere, rationalized the criminal justice system abolishing civil liberties and due process protections.  “Assembly-line” hearings (lasting a minute or two), eliminating jury trials, extortionate plea bargaining, fabricated evidence, framing defendants, “crimes” for which acquittal is not possible — all this was pioneered for young black men before being expanded to the rest of us.  It provided the rehearsal for today’s weaponized “lawfare” operations against Donald Trump, the January 6 defendants, and anyone else who resists the leftist takeover.

The military was likewise transformed into a gargantuan welfare state, catering to single mothers and expelling servicemen for “sexual harassment.”  Welfare policies even became part of military operations themselves.  Universities followed, abandoning both education and scholarship in favor of activism, reinforced with similarly trumped up accusations of sexual something-or-other.  Most devastating of all, the welfare machinery and the underclass it bred expanded throughout middle-class society, using “no-fault” divorce, accompanied by more sexual accusations, producing more dysfunctional fatherless adolescents and “empowered” functionaries.

So successful was this mass feminization that #MeToo expanded operations still more by targeting celebrities and political opponents.  The contempt for black men was extended to all men.  This furnished the radical left with the weapons and machinery to stage its coup.

As all this overwhelms us, the professional right-wing establishment averts its eyes, holds its tongue, buries its head, and looks for excuses to do nothing or even to abet the left.  Its foolish, too-often-repeated insistence that this is all simply “cultural Marxism” serves as an excuse to avoid these issues, ignore the dynamics that brought the left to power, preserve its own privileges and fiefdoms, and run away from danger.  We defeated communism, after all, so if we just continue fighting the Cold War and extolling the virtues of private ownership and free markets, we will stop the left from mutilating children, starting wars, and imprisoning its opponents, and it will relinquish power.

In short, professional conservatism tries to extricate us from the fiasco it permitted by continuing more of the foolishness that permitted the fiasco in the first place.

Waking, Not Woking, the Few

Today’s best commentators on these horrors speak and write from frustration.  Because they do not see where this came from, they cannot offer a way out.

Our habitual assumption, as we call on Americans to “wake up,” is that once awakened (awoken?), they will vote for the right candidates, support the right parties, and donate to the right “nonprofit” groups, who will do battle for the right solutions.  In short, they will build a new political class and hope it is somehow better than the previous one.  But it does not work that way.

The only way to loosen the politicos’ grip is to restore the sovereignty of the unpaid citizen.  This is feasible.  Enough citizens will spontaneously rise to the occasion (and are already doing so).  The trick is to ensure that they are not obstructed and sabotaged by a political class that postures as their friends, stabs them in the back, and imposes a tyranny that is less physical than mental.  That means bypassing the political class of the right more than the left.  It is they whose fecklessness enables the tyranny.  As long as we defer to them, rather than seizing the initiative, we enable it, too.

By Stephen Baskerville

Stephen Baskerville is Professor of Political Studies at the Collegium Intermarium in Warsaw.  His latest book, Why Did It Happen? Why America Went “Communist” and How to Undo It, where points in this article are documented and specific remedies suggested, will be published by Amsterdam Books.  His other books can be found on http://www.StephenBaskerville.com.

In a smackdown of gun control crusaders, six of Ohio’s eight largest cities experienced a drop in gun crime after the state allowed its citizens to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.

That’s the finding of a study by the Center for Justice Research, a partnership between the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Bowling Green State University.

In June 2022, Ohio’s constitutional carry law went into effect.

“In the year following, crime involving guns dropped across Ohio’s eight largest cities as a whole and in six of the eight individually,” the state attorney general’s office said in a Jan. 3 news release.

“Researchers analyzed data spanning from June 2021 to June 2023 — a year before and a year after the law took effect — focusing on crimes involving firearms, verified gunshot-detection alerts and the number of officers struck by gunfire,” the office said.

“The study showed significant decreases in the number of crimes involving firearms in Akron, Columbus and Toledo, and across all eight cities combined,” it said.

Parma had the largest drop in gun crime at 22 percent. The total decrease across the eight cities was 8 percent.

Yost said he commissioned the study after the mayors of several large cities claimed the constitutional carry law caused more crime in their communities.

“I genuinely did not know what the study would find,” he said. “I thought it would be useful either way.”

However, the research refutes the argument of anti-Second Amendment zealots that guns are the problem.

“This is not to downplay the very real problem of crime in many neighborhoods in our cities — you don’t need a research team to see that gun violence destroys lives, families and opportunity,” Yost said.

“The key takeaway from this study is that we have to keep the pressure on the criminals who shoot people, rather than Ohioans who responsibly exercise their Second Amendment rights,” he underscored.

If gun control laws worked, shootings would not be so common in left-wing cities, such as Chicago and Philadelphia, that have strict gun laws.

Essentially, gun control laws abridge the self-defense rights of law-abiding Americans while doing little to deter lawless thugs from terrorizing the public.

Criminals always manage to get their hands on guns illegally.

What’s especially chilling is that left-wing activists are rabidly trying to erode Americans’ constitutional right to self-defense after they disempowered the police and incentivized lawlessness with their soft-on-crime policies.

Crime has become so rampant in Democrat-run cities that many people feel they have no choice but to defend themselves.

Blocking legal gun ownership does nothing but embolden criminals.

 By Samantha Chang  February 16, 2024 at 5:46am

Source: Swing State That Passed Constitutional Carry Sees Decrease in Gun Crime, Dealing Blow to Gun Control Claims

Defenestrating the Deep State

By Kevin Mason

Source: Defenestrating the Deep State – American Thinker

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. These three words have been given new meanings and have become weaponized. Once we understand what’s driving the DEI movement, we will want to raise awareness, push back, and resist it. But it won’t be easy. This ideology has become deeply entrenched in academia, government, Hollywood, the media, and the corporate world, for starters.

Too many people have been hoodwinked. Americans are generally respectful, kind, tolerant, and generous. Despite real issues and tensions, racial and otherwise, most U.S. citizens are family-oriented, hard-working, and colorblind. This country is blessed to be a multicultural haven for people of every ethnicity, nationality, culture, race, and religion.

We have allowed other languages, religions, and traditions to be practiced. And yet, the left has programmed generations to think America was built on discrimination, is hopelessly evil, systemically racist, anti-immigrant, greedy, capitalistic, anti-gay, and anti-woman, for starters.

This is their narrative. These are their talking points. It is another manufactured crisis. Their solution?

In the United States in 2020, over $8 billion has been spent on Diversity training alone. This is a huge business. DEI ideology has firmly planted itself in major institutions. Practically every Fortune 100 company has adopted “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming and has created an executive position for its implementation.

An expert on Marxism, Dr. James Lindsay, said DEI is a vehicle to move communism into the corporate world. Too many of us have little idea how serious this is and how long it has been percolating. DEI has paved the way for the radical left in the U.S. and their cult of “woke.”

The godless and their useful idiots have been using DEI to mask tyranny in order to perpetrate this religious cult of diversity, equity, and inclusion. University and corporate offices have become weapons to intimidate and limit speech. It has become a totalitarian movement.

If DEI is so dangerous, wouldn’t it have been exposed and shut down years ago? Writer Christopher Rufo, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, states that the left has for years insulated the DEI bureaucracy from criticism, “creating the false impression that these programs were nonideological, nonpartisan, and noncontroversial.” They’ve had the protection of school administrators, faculty, and the leftist media.

A recent example, now famous for plagiarism, is Claudine Gay, Harvard University’s entitled president that finally resigned due to public pressure. She had quietly built “diversity” ideology into every facet of campus life and blames racism for her exit.

Most of us are familiar with the issues caused by progressive power and ruling elites at Ivy League schools, but the cancer of DEI has metastasized to astounding levels. Let’s look at a handful of examples in “higher” education.

According to the College Fix,

The University of Michigan continues to exponentially grow the number of staffers dedicated to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, with at least 241 paid employees now focused on DEI and payroll costs exceeding $30 million annually. The payroll costs are $23.24 million for salaries and $7.44 million for benefits, or $30.68 million, an amount that would cover in-state tuition and fees for 1,781 undergraduate students.

Thirteen DEI staff members earn more than $200,000 and 66 earn more than $100,000 when factoring in benefits. The number of positions at Michigan’s flagship university advancing DEI exceeds more than 500 when including those who work full-time or part-time on DEI and factoring in open and unfilled positions.

What are the qualifications for one of these positions and would a white Christian heterosexual male, for example, be considered a candidate for hire? I think you know the answer to this simple question.

The average DEI salary at UM is $96,400; factoring in fringe benefits, 144 DEI employees receive more than $100,000 a year.

Not far behind is Ohio State University (OSU), who employs 189 diversity-related staffers and costs Ohio taxpayers $20.38 million a year. That’s right, over twenty million dollars! OSU has more than doubled its diversity staff in just five years, hiring more than 100 new DEI-related employees between 2018 and 2023, swelling the headcount from 88 to 189.

In 2018, they employed 88 diversity-related staffers at a cost of a mere $7.3 million annually, so you can see how the bureaucracy is ballooning.

Chris Rufo explains how the University of Florida (UF) was also captured by DEI. He says it follows “racial and political preferences in faculty hiring, encourages white employees to engage with a twelve-step program called Racists Anonymous, and maintains racially segregated scholarship programs that violate federal civil rights law.”

UF hosts 31 DEI initiatives at a cost of $5 million per year. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion is not a series of standalone programs but an ideology that has been embedded in virtually every department on campus. UF has created over a thousand (1,018) separate DEI initiatives, and among these:

· 73 percent “have a DEI committee” and “DEI officer”;

· 70 percent “espoused commitment to DEI”;

· 53 percent “have a DEI strategic plan”; and

· 30 percent have “DEI in annual reports” and use “DEI in performance review.”

The problem is that these initiatives are entrenched within academia. From community colleges to major universities, the organizational aspect of the DEI agenda has been impressive. The focus is laser-like, and the message from top to bottom is clear: campus groups and departments are required to “stack the deck in favor of racial minorities.” They must use racial and sexual identity “qualifications” when it comes to hiring faculty candidates rather than experience or academic merit.

DEI is being used to discriminate, to enforce what they consider to be fairness, “ideological conformity,” and to silence dissent across America. To the left, diversity means looking different but thinking the same. Critical thinking is a thing of the past.

Two years ago, an extensive report was done by Heritage Foundation’s Jay P. Greene and education reformer, James D. Paul. They listed total DEI personnel at America’s colleges and found the average university has 45 people tasked with promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion! Some have many more.

The University of Michigan has 163 DEI personnel. Its central office had 19 people, including these job titles: “Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion & Chief Diversity Officer,” and three people who are each “Assistant Vice Provost for Equity, Inclusion & Academic Affairs.”

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) had 13.3 times as many people devoted to DEI than to providing services to people with disabilities, for example. Georgia Tech had 3.2 times as many DEI staffers than history professors. The University of Louisville’s ratio of DEI personnel to history faculty was 2:9.

The University of Virginia had 6.5 DEI staff for every 100 professors. Again, this was in 2021. According to Jay Greene and Mike Gonzales’ report, the billions spent on DEI programs fail to contribute positively to the well-being of students on campus. They suggest that,

“Rather than being an effective tool for welcoming students from different backgrounds, DEI personnel may be better understood as a signal of adherence to ideological, political, and activist goals. In light of these findings, state legislators and donors who fund these institutions may wish to examine DEI efforts more closely to ensure that university resources are used effectively.”

The government education establishment claims theywant a level playing field, but equal rights were never the ultimate goal. Under the Constitution, every citizen in the U.S. already has equal rights. Just ask the LGBTQ lobby who has capitalized on equal rights propaganda.

What is meant today by equality regarding sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI), for example, is “special” rights for LGBTQ individuals. Once equal rights were demanded and achieved legislatively for sexual orientation, however, religious freedom came under assault. Now, someone else’s rights had to be infringed upon.

DEI is a clever-sounding solution to a problem created by Marxists and globalists. It is a perversion of the truth and a distortion of reality that causes tribalism. It is also revealing that promoters of DEI have summarized the definition and the goals of equity as: disrupt, dismantle, re-envision, and rebuild.

What we’re witnessing are indirect attacks on the biblical worldview and America’s founding. The radical left Democrats would rather invent or exaggerate problems than deal with mankind’s overarching problem of sin.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross, and all are welcome to believe Jesus, confess their sins, and be saved.

The Bible condemns racism, victimhood, and favoritism. The language of social justice warriors is foreign to the New Testament. Moreover, because America was established on the principles and teachings of the Bible, it compelled the push for the abolition of slavery. This nation offers more opportunities to black people and has stronger legal protections for minorities than any other society, including black nations such as Africa. But this doesn’t fit the liberal narrative.

Christians, beware of these lies and false ideologies that have crept into many churches. The Apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Rome, urging them to take note of “those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them” (Romans 16:17). This doesn’t mean we don’t love them. It means we elevate truth over error. We must call out radical attempts to push Marxist agendas.

When you hear words like social justice, environmental justice, racial justice, reproductive justice, restorative justice, trans justice, and more, understand these are not biblical. It is not true justice they are demanding. Be reminded again, the issue is never the issue. The issue is the revolution.

Many ideologies that attack or oppose the biblical worldview are interconnected and are used on multiple fronts in the battle for the West and for the church in America. DEI is just one of many within the playbook of the radical left falling under the umbrella of “social justice.” Cultural Marxists want to disrupt the American way of life, distort our history, disciple generations of youth, and dismantle the nation’s very foundations.

It is so very important today to define terms. One thing to remember is the fact that God is the original just and true source of love, diversity, equity, inclusion, and of course, salvation. Jesus said everyone “who sees the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day (John 6:40).”

Finally, Revelation 7:9-10 declares God’s perspective of diversity, equity, and inclusion: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 

By
David Fiorazo

To read more about the DEI movement, see chapter 12 in David’s new book, Assault on the Image of God.

David Fiorazo is an author, ordained pastor, host of Worldview Matters, and media contributor for Harbinger’s Daily and Freedom Project. 

Source: Critical Thinking Is A Thing Of The Past: Is DEI Another Manufactured Crisis? – Harbingers Daily

The Problem with Lies

Source: The Problem with Lies – American Thinker

Main Picture Quote – “Lies, damned lies, and statistics” is part of a phrase attributed to Benjamin Disraeli and popularized in the United States by Mark Twain: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” The statement refers to the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statistics to bolster weak arguments, and the tendency of people to disparage statistics that do not support their positions – Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics.

Source: Environmental Worship: Apple Commerical Promotes Sacrifices To ‘Mother Earth’ goddess – Harbingers Daily

Can you believe it? Thanksgiving is already here. Christmas and Hannukah are right around the corner, which means you and many Americans are already putting up decorations for the holidays.

Many of us go all out when decorating at home. But across the country, these special holidays are also celebrated publicly, like when cities and communities put up Nativity scenes outside city hall or a lighted Menorah in a public park.

Of course, if you read the headlines, it seems that virtually every holiday season, we hear about these religious displays being forcefully taken down. There always seems to be someone group channeling their inner Grinch, complaining and arguing that public religious displays are “unconstitutional.”

Well, we’re here to tell you that simply isn’t the law. Public religious displays are a part of America’s history and traditions. And despite what some roaming complainers say, these expressions of faith in the public square don’t have to go anywhere. They’re perfectly constitutional.

As the song goes, this is “the most wonderful time of the year.” So, we want to bring you encouragement and hope. Don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about those radical groups that want to deflate the holiday spirit with unfounded complaints.

The law is strongly on the side of religious freedom. In fact, you now have more religious liberty than at any point in the last 50 years. Protections for public expression of religion are stronger than they’ve been in a half century!

For decades, attacks during Christmas and Hannukah were almost considered normal. Religious Americans got used to being harassed for expressing their beliefs in public.  But it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.

This holiday season presents a HUGE opportunity. And here’s why.

Thanks to the landmark victories for religious freedom that you helped First Liberty secure in the Coach Kennedy and the Bladensburg Peace Cross cases (Kennedy v. Bremerton School District and American Legion v. American Humanist Association), historic displays with religious references and imagery don’t have to be hidden. These wins completely changed the law in a way that favors religious freedom and safeguards religious displays.

For you, it means you can go into your community and begin restoring Nativity scenes, Menorahs and other religious memorials, images and displays. If anyone tries to take them down, you have the legal backing to confidently defend them.

If you want to help restore faith and religious freedom in America, we urge you: Take action now.

Maybe the Nativity scene you once saw outside city hall is now gone. Or, maybe you no longer see the Menorah when walking in the local park. Now’s the time to start working with your city council or local leaders to bring it back.

This is an incredible time for religious liberty in America. God has created incredible new opportunities and graciously opened new doors for religious freedom.

After removing major barriers and precedents against religious freedom, we now have incredible opportunities in the courtroom. And with God’s favor, together, we can keep bringing more and more victories that will guard religious liberty for you, your children and your grandchildren. But those hard-fought victories will only make a difference when we go forth and boldly live out our faith.

Whether it’s Nativity scenes, Menorahs, monuments with religious images, our national motto “In God We Trust,” students praying in schools, or our leaders saying a prayer to start our government meetings, these expressions of faith do not have to be banished to closets. It’s time to go on offense and restore religious freedom where it rightfully and legally belongs.

Source: Restoring Faith in America; ‘Tis the Season to Bring Back Nativity Scenes – News – First Liberty

If you’re in the market for a new career, how about one that will bring home almost $300,000 a year and require you to work only three hours a day (with weekends and 2 weeks off for vacation)?

The job? Pet psychic.

Nikki Vasconez, a former lawyer, started working as a pet psychic four years ago and even though she charges over $500 for a 90-minute consultation, she has a waitlist of nearly 8,000 clients.

Starting out, she made a video about a dog named Albie who she claims told her he didn’t like his nickname. She says he didn’t specify what it was, only that it made people think he was large and overweight.

“Those were his exact words”, she said. The dog’s nickname was “Big Al”.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, “Pet psychics are making their way from the fringe to socially acceptable. Those who tell others about their experiences with animal communicators say they are more likely to be asked for referrals than be mocked…People book sessions with animal communicators to unravel behavioral issues, to learn about preferences for end-of-life care, and when the time comes, to make sure their pets are enjoying the afterlife.”

Oh boy.

If pets aren’t your thing, how about becoming just a regular psychic? According to an article in the New York Post, people have become frustrated with seeing therapists and are now turning to psychics for advice.

One example is Aria D’Amore, 35, an artist and model living in Jersey City, who became dissatisfied with therapy after nearly 30 years, so she decided to seek help from an “intuitive healer” practicing tarot and astrology. D’Amore now consults with her healer/astrologer in hour-and-a-half sessions that cost her $125.

With animals costing over 4X as much as people, I’m guessing pets must be harder to read than humans.

Discernment needed ahead

According to a Pew Research Center survey, 15.0% of Americans consult a psychic or fortune-teller, with women more likely to visit psychics or fortune-tellers than men. If that statistic is true, given the current American population of over 300 million, that means tens of millions of Americans have gone to psychics.

And you thought the occult was just a niche thing.

With psychics (or anything paranormal for that matter), you basically have three possibilities staring you in the face with respect to what and who they really are.

First, they’re fake and they know they’re fake. Scammers are everywhere and despondent, misguided people looking for help and answers make for perfect prey. Personally, I think a pet psychic is a brilliant scam as there’s almost no way to falsify the “reading”. The only thing better would be dealing with inanimate objects (e.g., a house psychic: “Your home is telling me it wants a new roof.”)

Second, they’re fake but they believe they’re real. The pet psychics cited in the WSJ article, for example, truly seem to believe that their “readings” are legit.

Lastly, they’re real and they believe they’re real. This category is rare but does exist. More on this in a moment.

So why are way too many people seeking out occult practitioners these days? A New York Times article cites James Alcock, a professor of psychology at York University in Canada, who has spent his career looking at belief systems and debunking scientific studies of the paranormal. “If you look throughout history,” Alcock says, “whenever there has been some sort of upheaval or some sort of collective anxiety in society, interest in psychics has shot up. People experience a lack of control and anxiety.”

Thomas Rabeyron, a professor of clinical psychology and psychopathology at the University of Lorraine in France, agrees saying, “Psychics are barometers of social anxiety”.

Sadly, this is nothing new. A perfect Old Testament example of anxiety seeing out the occult is Saul visiting the witch at En-Dor when he was facing the onslaught of the Philistine army: “Seek for me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her” (1 Sam 28:7).

Unfortunately for those who encounter the real thing, they think they’re dealing with something that’s helpful when it’s an entity more malevolent than they can imagine.

Stating the obvious, the need for discernment is off the charts in such cases because the power behind the psychic will do its best to appear as a bearer of good much like the possessed woman cited in Acts who tried to act as a herald for the Gospel message: “It happened that as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave-girl having a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing her masters much profit by fortune-telling. Following after Paul and us, she kept crying out, saying, ‘These men are bond-servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation’” (Acts 16:16-17).

The woman in question was a living, breathing example of what Paul would write later: “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness” (2 Cor. 11:14–15).

With the uptick in psychic visitations (now over a $2 billion industry), it isn’t out of the question to think it is one of the many signs of the clock ticking down to the final end times as Scripture says: “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).

On that point, Dr. Merril Unger, in his book The Haunting of Bishop Pike (that chronicles a horrific example of the peril psychics pose), speaks about the train-wrecking nature of “deceitful spirits” when he warns: “The essential thing to understand concerning all the phenomena of spiritualism, whether telekinesis, psychic visions, automatic writing, trance speaking, materializations, apparitions, excursions of the psyche, or whatever is that fact is used as a springboard to fraud … Satan’s masquerading as an angel of light is far more destructive than his forays as a devouring lion” (emphasis in the original).

Amen. Let’s hope those pursuing psychics for their pets or themselves come to this realization. If they don’t, trust me, they and their psychics will never see their end coming.

Source: The psychics will never see this coming | Voice

Why Can Everyone Celebrate Who They Are Except Christians?

It seems like every time you turn around there’s a new “month” being celebrated. In case you can’t keep track of them, here’s a list:

February: Black History Month.

March: Women’s History Month

March: Greek-American Heritage Month

March: National Nutrition Month

April: Arab-American Heritage Month

May: Asian Pacific American Heritage Month

May: Jewish-American Heritage Month

June: LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

June: Caribbean-American Heritage Month

June: Immigrant Heritage Month

July: Disability Pride Month

July: French=American Heritage Month

August: Transgender History Month

September 15 – October 15: Hispanic Heritage Month

October: National Disability Employment Awareness Month

October: German-American Heritage Month

October: Filipino-American History Month

October: Italian-American Heritage Month

November: Native-American Heritage Month.

El Dorado County, California, wanted to celebrate Christian Heritage Month starting in July of 2024. In July of this year, the resolution passed by a vote of 4-1. However, in September it was rescinded because a group of liberals, atheists, and some in the Jewish community protested the proposed celebration. More on that later.

The month is celebrated by other communities across the nation in July, but it isn’t recognized as a national holiday.  Why not?

As you look at the list of nationally celebrated months, it’s clear that not everyone agrees with the values that are being celebrated, yet still they are recognized. So why is it that so many sub-groups, as far as population numbers are concerned, get the approval, but the actual religion that the nation was founded on is cast aside?

The problem, in my opinion, is twofold. First, the current politicians who are in office are gutless. There is no reasonable explanation for why an American Christian Heritage Month isn’t on the national calendar. The second reason ties directly into the first. Every time the subject is brought up, it’s always attacked. Instead of pointing out the obvious and sticking to their guns, the politicians fold like a cheap suit.

What took place in El Dorado County is a microcosm for what happens in too many cities and counties across the country. Even before the resolution was passed, the haters were crawling out of the woodwork. The critics were the usual suspects. The Freedom Fom Religion Foundation (FFRF) is a band of atheists who seemingly hate everything about American values and tradition. The FFRF is led by a particularly nasty piece of human flesh named Annie Laurie Gaylor. Gaylor is a narcissist. In her world, it’s her way or the highway. Lke all radical leftists, she claims to be open minded and accepting, but her actions prove to be the exact opposite. It should upset every American when any politician or political party caves to these singularly motivated morons. By the way, their argument never really changes. The names and places may change, but their argument never really does. All they do is continuously regurgitate the same tired stance, which proves their ignorance is based on nothing but an inane hatred toward any sense of personal spiritual belief and an acceptance that things exist beyond human understanding.

So, let’s look at how ridiculous this argument is. The Constitution is not secular, no matter how long Gaylor wishes upon her atheist star. The United States Constitution is based on Christian values. It’s those same values that allow the freedom for morons like Gaylor to pontificate against the very foundation that allows her rhetoric to be spoken publicly. Also, if having a month that recognizes Christian heritage is propaganda in Galor’s simple mind, then what is Black History Month or LGBTQ Pride Month? Are they not propaganda for those groups of Americans? Of course they are. The only difference is that the idea that some Americans believe in a higher power offends her delicate sensibilities. Her argument is not only weak, it’s also bigoted. Just because you can convince the weak minded to cast aside common sense does not mean you are right.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), another critic, is an oxymoron if there ever was one. Like the FFRF, they also love to get involved in these issues to espouse nonsense. They do so for the same reasons: to exploit the weakness of politicians, and to try and stay relevant (which they are not).

The ACLU believes the resolution “conveys that the County supports, promotes and endorses specific religious beliefs and, as such, violates the California Constitution.”

Celebrating an American Christian Heritage Month does not mean in any way, shape, or form that Christianity is being endorsed. It simply recognizing that there are Christian Americans who are allowed to be proud of who they are and celebrate it. The fact that it makes the leadership of the ACLU uncomfortable is not only hypocritical, it is disgusting in its very nature.

Last, and perhaps most surprisingly, is a group of Jews who were very vocal against the idea of Christians being able to be proud of who they are.

Marla Saunders, a Jewish massage therapist in South Lake Tahoe, said she was “verklempt” after the decision, using the Yiddish term meaning “overcome by emotion.” Saunders started an online petition calling on the board to rescind the proclamation. It garnered more than 1,000 self-righteous signatures in September. “I am definitely teary with joy,” she said.

“Teary with joy”? Over the celebration of a Christian Heritage Month Being rescinded? Perhaps she needs to change whatever oils and candles she is using during her massage sessions. They obviously have affected her ability to think clearly.

Rabbi Evon Yakar of Temple Bat Yam in South Lake Tahoe commended the board for taking action but criticized them for promoting the idea that America is a Christian nation.

“This was not about celebrating one group’s heritage,” said Yakar. “This is about the clear use of language in the proclamation that our country was founded as a Christian country, and that is what we are celebrating. I commend the board for reflecting on and revisiting the proclamation, and I applaud them for rescinding it. I believe they did a good thing in reflecting on the divisiveness this caused.”

America Is a Christian nation, founded on Christian beliefs and values. I urge you all to understand that, and I urge all of the gutless politicians nationwide to acknowledge it as well.

These values were earned and defended through the toughest of circumstances. They will not be forgotten, dismissed, or cast aside for the appeasement of the delusional left.

Source: Why Can Everyone Celebrate Who They Are Except Christians? – PJ Media

Denison Forum – Hamas and Radical Islam: What Christians need to know

The war that Hamas began with Israel on the morning of October 7, 2023, has the potential to engulf the entire Middle East and beyond in conflict. America and the West have declared their unequivocal support for Israel; Iran is clearly resourcing its enemies, backed by Russia, who is backed by China.

This conflict comes at a time of unprecedented political turmoil in the US, where the public is less trusting of its leaders and elections than at any time in my lifetime. Political divisions are rife across most of the Western world as well, driven by escalating illegal immigration, economic pressures, the ongoing effects of the pandemic, and uncertainty over the economy, upcoming elections, and new technologies.

In such a chaotic time, it is essential that we understand the facts foundational to the war in Israel and their implications for the world.

I have studied, traveled to, and written on the Middle East for four decades. Out of this context, I have created this resource to help American Christians understand the factors at work in the current conflict and their larger geopolitical repercussions. Then we will outline a prayerful way believers can respond to a war that is military, political, cultural, and, most of all, spiritual.

A brief history of Islam

Let’s begin at the beginning. Islam was founded by Muhammad (AD 570–632) in the midst of religious pluralism, idolatry, and division among his Arab people in Mecca and the Arabian peninsula.

Muhammad was born in the city of Mecca. His father died before he was born; his mother died when he was six years of age. He was raised by his grandfather and then his uncle, Abu Bakr. At the age of forty, he had become a successful businessman when he began receiving a series of visions or “revelations” which became the Qur’an.

At the time, his people worshiped the seven planets, the moon, and the stars. Many venerated family household gods and various angels. Others were involved in fire worship contributed by the Magians from Persia. There was also a corrupt form of Judaism and heretical Christianity present.

Gabriel and Muhammad

According to Islam, Muhammad was visited by the angel Gabriel in the year 610 and told that God’s previous revelations to the Jews and to the Christians had been corrupted. As a result, God was revealing his word and will a third time through Muhammad.

Of the pantheon of gods worshiped in the day, Muhammad was “led” to choose the one known as “Allah” (Arabic for “the god”) as the only true God. He began preaching in Mecca, inviting the people to join him in his new faith, but most rejected his message.

In the year 622, Muhammad and his small band of followers migrated to a city called Yathrib, now renamed “Medina” (“city of the prophet”). There they established the first Islamic state. The Muslim calendar begins from the day of this migration (the hijira or “flight”).

Muhammad’s hatred of idols led him to place an immense emphasis on the unity and transcendence of God. At first, he believed that Jews and Christians would accept his message and had his followers kneel toward Jerusalem to pray. When they did not, he taught them to turn their backs on Jerusalem by bowing toward Mecca; this is their practice today.

Muhammad’s culture was characterized by tribal warfare, brutality, and promiscuity. He emphasized divine control and opposed religious liberty and separation of church and state. In his worldview, since Allah is Lord, he must be Lord of all. Thus Muhammad created a civilization, not merely a religion—a way of life for all people, governing personal autonomy and all morality. Islam attempts to provide the answers to every conceivable detail of belief and daily life.

Muhammad left no designated heirs. The “caliphs” (Arabic for “successors”) continued his movement, led first by Abu Bakr. Soon, however, divisions began to emerge. Most Muslims followed the caliphs and their successors; these are known as Sunnis today. But some believed that only the fourth caliph (Muhammad’s son-in-law) was the true successor of Muhammad and have supported his successors; they are the Shiites (“party of Ali”). Of Muslims, 85 percent are Sunnis; 15 percent are Shiites, living primarily in Iran but also in Iraq, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Lebanon.

The spread of Islam

Islam’s growth worldwide has been the fastest of any religion in history. Within a single decade, AD 622–632, Muhammad united the nomadic tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a single cohesive nation, gave them a monotheistic religion in place of their polytheistic, tribal faiths, organized a powerful society and state, and launched his worldwide movement.

Muhammad died in 632 and was succeeded by Abu Bakr. Under his reign and afterward, Islam continued to spread, promoted by extensive military campaigns. Within a century after the death of Muhammad, the Islamic empire stretched from Arabia west through North Africa, to Southern France and Spain, as well as north of Arabia through the Middle East and east throughout Central Asia, to the borders of China. In the process, Islamic expansion took in much of the oldest and strongest Christian territory.

The spread of Islam in western Europe was finally checked by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours (in France) in AD 732, exactly a century after the death of Muhammad. Spain was later reclaimed for Christianity, but a wide belt of territory from Morocco to Pakistan and Indonesia remained Muslim and has so to this day.

In the meantime, a series of Crusades were conducted from AD 1095 to 1291, making the Christian mission to Muslims immeasurably more difficult. Islam has dominated the Middle East for the last twelve centuries, threatening Europe during much of that time. Today it extends from the Atlantic to the Philippines. In Africa it is currently making tremendous advances.

Islam in America

There are an estimated 3.4 million Muslims in America. This is a “denomination” larger than either the Assemblies of God or the Episcopal Church in the US. In the next thirty years, Muslims are predicted to outnumber Jews to become the second-largest religion in our country.

While there is no unified Islamic movement in America, there is an increasing effort to evangelize the Muslim faith in our country. Saudi Arabia is leading the way in funding projects to promote Islam around the world.

Note also the growth of Black Muslims in the US, a movement that rejects Christianity as racist. This crusade began in 1931 among the Blacks in Harlem. One of the early leaders, Elijah Muhammad, preached a gospel of black superiority; his heir, Malcolm X, attempted to move the Black Muslims toward orthodox Islam. This movement is known today as The Nation of Islam and comprises a significant percentage of the total Muslim population in America.

A brief theology

What beliefs do Muslims hold in common?

A good way to understand any world religion is to ask these five questions of it:

• What is its view of ultimate authority, God or the gods?
• How does it view humanity?
• What is its central focus?
• How does it understand salvation?
• How does it view eternity?

View of God

Unlike many world religions, Islam’s view of God can be stated very succinctly: “Your God is One God: there is no God but He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful” (2:163).^[1] The Qur’an makes clear its rejection of the Trinity: “Say not ‘Trinity’: desist: it will be better for you: for God is one God: glory be to Him” (4:171).

The Qur’an also explicitly rejects the divinity of Jesus: “They do blaspheme who say: ‘God is Christ the son of Mary’” (5:72); “They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God” (5:73); “Christ the son of Mary, was no more than an apostle” (5:75).

Muslims believe that God has sent 313 prophets to humanity, and they are required to memorize the twenty-five most important. Of these, the most significant were Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. Muslims believe that Jesus was born of a virgin (3:47; 19:20) and that he lived a sinless life and ascended to heaven without passing through death. They reject the atonement and the doctrine of salvation through faith in Christ.

View of humanity

Human beings live completely under the sovereignty of God: “Those whom God willeth to guide, He openeth their breast to Islam; those whom He willeth to leave straying, He maketh their breast close and constricted” (6:125). “God wills it” is a common expression in Islam. In fact, “Islam” means “submission” or “surrender.”

Central focus

The Qur’an is the final revelation of God for Muslims and the central focus of their faith and lives. All of life must be submitted to its revelation and laws. According to Muslim teaching, the Qur’an was given by divine miracle through Muhammad when the prophet was illiterate: “It is He who sent down to thee (step by step) in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it” (3:3).

In addition to the Qur’an, the Hadith (a collection of the “sayings” of Muhammad) and the Sunna (the record of the personal customs of Muhammad and his community) give guidance for Muslim life. But the Qur’an is the only divine revelation.

Concept of salvation

Salvation is achieved by submission to Allah: “So believe in God and His Apostle; and if ye believe and do right, ye have a reward without measure” (3:179). The “five pillars” express the essentials of Muslim life and practice:

• The “witness” (“shahadah”): La ilaha illal lah Muhammadur rasulul lah—”There is no god but Allah, Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.” Every Muslim must declare this aloud at least once in his life very slowly, with deep meaning and full commitment; most Muslims repeat it many times each day.
• Prayer (“salah”) with directed motions, five times a day, facing toward Mecca, the holy city.
• Almsgiving (“zakah”), approximately 2.5 percent of all one’s income and permanent annual worth, to the poor. This is an act of worship.
• Fasting (“sawm”), especially during the month of Ramadan, which commemorates the giving of the Qur’an. From dawn to sunset every day of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, a Muslim refrains from eating, drinking, smoking, and sexual relations.
• Pilgrimage (“hajj“) to Mecca at least once from every believer who is physically and financially able to make the journey.
• In addition, jihad (“holy war”) can be declared the unequivocal religious duty of the Muslim man, as the will of God. Many Muslims believe that dying as a martyr in a declared holy war is a guaranteed path to paradise.

Note that strict morality is a hallmark of Muslims. Most obey strong prohibitions against drinking wine, eating pork, gambling, and practicing usury. They invoke the name of Allah at the slaughter of all animals. They also require a specific dress code: men must be covered from navel to knees; women must cover their entire bodies except for their face and hands, with women above the age of puberty required to cover their faces while going out and meeting strangers. Pure silk and gold are not allowed for men; men cannot wear women’s clothes, and women cannot wear men’s garments; the symbolic dress of other religions is not allowed.

View of heaven

Muslims believe that there will be a final day of judgment, the consummation of history, and the assigning of heaven and hell to all persons on the basis of their acceptance or rejection of the message of God and their accompanying good works. Allah is depicted as weighing good and bad works on a delicate scale of balance which is accurate even to the weight of a grain of mustard seed (7:5–8; 21:47; 23:103–5).

Islam and Christianity

How do Muslims relate to the Christian faith?

Because Islam began in the Middle East subsequent to Christianity, it has always had some reference to Christianity. Islam’s holy book, the Qur’an, maintains this reference to Christianity, speaking specifically of Jesus and the Christian religion.

Relating the faiths

Islam is completely independent of Christianity in faith and philosophy. There is almost no direct quotation in the Qur’an from either Testament. All we know for certain is that Muhammad was aware of Jews and Christians and knew something of their history. Tragically, the “Christianity” Muhammad encountered was heretical and gave him an erroneous picture of Christ and his followers.

Muhammad claimed to be a biological heir of Abraham through Ishmael. Through this tie, Muhammad saw himself as the establisher of the true religion of the one God in Arabia. He maintained that the religion Abraham bequeathed to the Arabs became corrupt. He claimed to receive direct revelation from God identical in content with the original revelations to Abraham, Moses, and Jesus and thus claimed to be in direct succession with the Old and New Testament prophets.

Muslims have historically tolerated Christians and Jews as “people of the Book” in that they have a revelation related, though inferior, to that of Muslims. Nevertheless, various regulations are imposed on Christians in Muslim lands. One of the most difficult is the law against a Christian’s converting a Muslim, accompanied by an absolute prohibition against the Muslim’s accepting Christianity.

In addition, recent persecution of Christians has made tensions much greater between the two faiths.

Sharing the gospel with Muslims

How can Christians best share their faith with Muslims?

First, seek common ground.

Both faiths believe in one God and see Jesus as holy. Muslims believe that they worship the God of Abraham and Jesus. They deny the divinity of Christ and thus do not worship our Lord. But we share the belief that there is one God of the universe.

We both emphasize personal morality. The difference is that Christians have a relationship with God based on his grace, while Muslims believe they must earn Allah’s acceptance. No Muslim can be sure that he or she will go to heaven. In Christ we have the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life with God.

Second, understand Islam’s view of Jesus.

As we have seen, Islam denies the divinity of Christ. Muhammad proclaimed that there is no God but God; thus Jesus cannot be divine. He was God’s messenger, not his Son.

Islam denies the crucifixion. According to Muslim theology, when Jewish leaders approached Jesus with the intent of crucifying him, God took him up to heaven to deliver him out of their hands; then he cast the likeness of Jesus on someone else, who was crucified by mistake in his place. Islam ignores the sin nature which requires atonement and therefore the need for Jesus’ death for us.

Third, understand Islam’s view of the Qur’an.

The Muslim believes that the Qur’an has existed from all eternity with God in the Arabic language. In every particular it is the utterance of God himself with no human element at all. The Qur’an is seen in purely verbal, propositional terms. Additionally, the Qur’an does not reveal Allah to us but only his will. He remains hidden from all men.

By contrast, Christianity has always seen the Bible as God’s self-revelation of himself to us, mediated through the instrumentality of human personality. Christ is the central focus of our faith (cf. John 20:30–31).

Fourth, emphasize the difference between grace and works.

While the Muslim believes that Allah can be merciful, he also accepts that he is responsible for his own salvation by faith and works. He does not believe that he can know his final destiny before his judgment before Allah. Christianity offers grace, full pardon for sin, and salvation today.

Finally, demonstrate God’s love in yours.

Pray for Muslims, by name if possible. Build relationships based on unconditional friendship. Look for ways to affirm and include them. Seek opportunities to share what the living Lord Jesus has done in your life. Then invite the person to have the assurance of heaven through Christ.

(For more on sharing your faith with Muslims, see “AMORE: Loving Muslims” and “The seduction of a single story” by Shane Bennett.)

Radical Islam

“Radical Islam,” that movement which led to 9/11 and the global war on terror and has incited the current war in the Middle East, can be differentiated from the rest of the Muslim world in two respects:

• Radical Muslims argue that America and the West are the aggressors in this conflict and that 9/11 and other attacks are merely their response in defense of Islam.
• Radical Muslims believe that there are no innocents in this conflict, that all citizens of Israel and the West are perpetrators and participants in this supposed attack on Islam.

To be clear, these are decidedly minority views in the larger Muslim world. Gallup documents that only 7 percent of Muslims think the 9/11 attacks are “completely” justified and could be considered radicalized. This percentage is not uniform across the world—it would be much higher in Yemen and Somalia, for example, and much lower in the US.

These assertions are critical in that they explain how radical Muslims like ISIS and Hamas can defend their horrific actions. The Qur’an explicitly states that violence is permitted only in self-defense:

• “Fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for God loveth not transgressors” (2:190).
• “If they fight you, slay them. Such is the reward of those who suppress faith” (2:191).
• “Fight them on until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and Faith in God; but if they cease, let there be no hostility except to those who practice oppression” (2:193).

The Qur’an also defends innocent people from aggression: “Nor take life—which God has made sacred—except for just cause” (17:33).

But for reasons we will explore in this section, Hamas and its associates do not believe they apply to Jews and citizens of Western democracies.

From Wahhabi Islam to al Qaeda

Muhammad ibn Abd-al-Wahhab was an eighteenth-century reformer (born in 1703 in what is today Saudi Arabia) who formed the creed upon which Saudi Arabia was founded. Wahhabism is the dominant form of Islam in Saudi Arabia today. It is an extremely fundamentalistic version of Islam, demanding absolute allegiance to Sharia (holy law) in every dimension of life and resisting all Western and foreign influence.

Wahhabism has been instrumental in supporting the radical Islamic movement of this generation. The Saudi royal family has spent more than $75 billion exporting this form of Islam to the world.

Sayyid Qutb was an Egyptian who championed fundamentalist Islam to his country. Outraged by the sinful aspects of Western culture he observed in his travels and opposed to such influence in Egypt, he fought vehemently against Western forces in his country. He was executed by the Egyptian government in 1966. His writings were very influential in the evolution of Osama bin Laden and his beliefs.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has been crucial to the movements that contribute to radical Islam. Their credo: “Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Qur’an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”

These movements have for generations been concerned with the growing Western (infidel) influence they see in the Arab world. But the creation of Israel in 1948 and America’s continued support for that nation have been especially significant in the rise of radical Islam versus the West.

Muslims believe that Islam is the true religion of Abraham and Moses and that the Jewish people follow a corrupted religion. They are also convinced that the Palestinians are the rightful owners of the Holy Land. As a result, radical Muslims dream of the day when they can “push Israel into the sea.”

America’s involvement in Arab politics over the generations has been problematic. For instance, we helped to depose the Iranian leader Mossadeq in 1953 when it served our purposes, then supported the Shah until public opinion turned against him and allowed his fall in 1979. They see our first Gulf War as protecting our oil interests, and they resist our continued engagement with Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, and other moderate governments.

Al Qaeda (Arabic for “the camp”) was one response to the West. This was a loosely configured band of radical fighters, birthed in the battle against the Soviet Union for Afghanistan (1978–88). Osama bin Laden, the son of a very wealthy Saudi family, sought to mobilize assistance for the mujahedeen (“those engaged in the struggle”) fighting the Soviets. He raised financial resources and encouraged Muslims around the world to join the battle. When the Soviets were expelled, the victorious “freedom fighters” became the Taliban (roughly translated “students”), the governing authority in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden then offered his assistance to the Saudis when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. They rejected his offer and eventually exiled him to Sudan; from there he emigrated to Pakistan, from where he and his associates launched the 9/11 attacks. He was killed by American forces on May 2, 2011. Al Qaeda forces are still active in Somalia and northwest Africa, northwest Syria, and Afghanistan today.

The Islamic State

The terrorist group known as ISIS or the Islamic State began operations in 1999 as a jihadist group in Iraq calling itself “The Organization of Monotheism and Jihad.” Composed of Sunni extremists, its founder was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden and merged his group with al Qaeda in October 2004. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a US air strike in 2006 and succeeded by Abu Omar al-Baghdadi. Later that year, the group merged with other factions to form the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI).

After Abu Omar al-Baghdadi was killed in an air strike in 2010, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was elected by a Shura council (religious assembly) in Nineveh to succeed him. When civil war unfolded in Syria two years later, al-Baghdadi sent fighters there and added “al-Sham” (Syria) to his group, then known as ISIS. After refusing demands to withdraw from Syria by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda, his group broke from al Qaeda in early 2014.

On June 9, 2014, ISIS fighters seized Mosul, the second-largest city in Iraq. Two days later it took control of Tikrit. It continued expanding its territory until it controlled land the size of Great Britain or the state of Indiana. On June 29, 2014, al-Baghdadi announced that the lands he controlled in Iraq and Syria were part of the “Islamic State” and that he was its “caliph,” or leader. In July, the group seized control of Syria’s largest oil field and captured others afterward.

By December 2017, it had lost 95 percent of its territory, including Mosul and Raqqa, its nominal capital in Syria. A US-backed coalition of Syrian Kurds and Arabs known as the Syrian Democratic Forces eventually captured key ISIS positions. Al-Baghdadi was killed in a US raid on October 26, 2019. However, ISIS loyalists and affiliated networks continue recruiting efforts and financial operations in Syria and other nations.

Hamas

Israel is surrounded by potential enemies—the Muslim Brotherhood to the south, Hamas to the west, and Hezbollah to the north. Of the three, Hamas has been most difficult in recent years even before launching the current war against Israel.

The primary areas of Palestinian occupation in Israel are called the “West Bank” and the “Gaza Strip.” The former covers 2,177 square miles, an area slightly smaller than the state of Delaware. Its name is derived from its location on the western bank of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea; its population exceeds three million people. The latter is an area 25 miles long and 4 to 7.5 miles wide, with a population of 2.1 million people.

The West Bank is governed by Fatah, an acronym for “Palestinian National Liberation Movement.” The political party was founded in 1959 by Yasser Arafat, who led the group until his death in 2004.

The Gaza Strip is governed by Hamas (“fervor”), which is an acronym (spelled backward) for “Islamic Resistance Movement.” The group’s origins go back to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, who began his movement in the late 1960s as an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 1973, he established the “Islamic Center” to coordinate the Brotherhood’s activities in Gaza and founded Hamas as their political arm in 1987. It published its official charter in 1988, calling for the destruction of Israel and raising “the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.”

For much of the group’s history, the military wing of Hamas called the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigade has sponsored terrorism against Israel. It has repeatedly launched rocket attacks at Israeli towns and sponsored a series of suicide bombers before Israel constructed a “security fence” around its borders. The Brigade claims more than a thousand members and is believed to have killed more than five hundred people. Hamas has also engaged in social and political work, funding healthcare clinics, orphanages, sports leagues, mosques, and schools.

The group operated as an opposition party in the Gaza until winning parliamentary elections in 2006. Since that time it has been at odds with Fatah, which still governs the West Bank, so that the Palestinian people have had no unified government or advocate.

Hamas shocked Israel and the world with the strength of its assault on October 7, 2023. However, it clearly seeks to expand this conflict to include other jihadist groups in the current war against Israel.

Hezbollah

“Hezbollah” (“Party of God”) was founded in Lebanon by Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah in 1982, heir to the former coalition of militant groups known as Islamic Jihad. Since its beginnings it has been sponsored by Iran and Syria.

Hassan Nasrallah is the group’s senior political leader. Najib Miqati, the current prime minister who was previously elected to this post in 2005 and from 2011 to 2014, was chosen by Hezbollah for this role. His election represented the first time the organization had been involved formally in the government of Lebanon.

The organization is a major provider of social services, hospitals, schools, and agricultural services for Shias living in Lebanon. Its militant wing has been defined by the United States as a terrorist organization.

The year after its founding, the group launched a truck bombing on the US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing more than two hundred soldiers. In 1992, they bombed the Israeli embassy in Argentina, killing twenty-nine, and bombed a Jewish community center in 1994, killing ninety-five people. Periodic border skirmishes and shelling escalated into a full-scale war with Israel in the summer of 2006. A United Nations-brokered peace ended the conflict, but tensions in the region remain high.

When I was last in Israel, I met many officials who assumed that another war with Lebanon is inevitable.

The role of Iran

Iran is considered the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. The country was the seat of the Persian Empire, once the largest the world had ever seen, and its leaders seek to restore that empire through a “Shiite crescent” that extends westward through Syria to Lebanon. The revolution of 1979 brought an Islamic theocracy to power run by the country’s clergy and is led today by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Central to their worldview is the return of the divinely inspired Twelfth Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi al-Hujjah (commonly called the “Mahdi,” meaning “the guided one”). (These Shiite Muslims are often called “Twelvers” as a result.) This figure is believed to have been hidden by Allah in AD 872 and transported to a transcendent realm in AD 934 (this event is called the “occultation”). They expect his return shortly before the Day of Judgment to lead the forces of righteousness against the forces of evil. This apocalyptic war will establish Islam and peace around the world, in their view.

Many Shias voice and write prayers to the Mahdi regularly. Many also believe that the current era represents the final period of history ahead of the Mahdi’s reappearance.

The world is currently divided between the “will of the essence of transcendence” led by “the people and the leadership of Iran” and the “arrogant powers.” In their view, the existence of Israel is the “greatest barrier” to the Mahdi’s reappearance. As a result, Iran’s clergy state that the “Jewish state will be destroyed before Mahdi’s arrival.” Some even believe that this conflict will take place after a world war. And some view Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as this necessary precursor.

These theological and geopolitical viewpoints help explain Iran’s role in the current war against Israel and its desire to see this conflict widened across the region. It should also inform our view of Iran’s quest for nuclear power (and perhaps nuclear weapons). And Americans should note that Iran also considers the US to be complicit in this conflict through our support for Israel; Ayatollah Khamenei has stated that Iran is in a permanent war with the “American mafia regime.”

A prayerful response

Let’s end with some good news: a very hopeful spiritual movement is sweeping the Muslim world. Multitudes of Muslims are meeting Jesus in dreams and visions, and many are turning to him as their Lord. Among them are Muslims previously committed to a radical ideology that wages war against Israel and Christians.

It is incumbent upon us to pray daily for this spiritual awakening to continue and escalate. Ask your pastor and church to join you. God’s word is clear: “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).

My grandfather risked his life to defend America in World War I. My father nearly died on a South Pacific island defending our nation in World War II.

Now you and I are engaged in a spiritual battle of global significance.

Will history find us faithful?

^[1] All references are from Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Qur’an: Text, Translation and Commentary (Elmhurst, New York: Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc., 2005).

Denison Forum

Source: Hamas and Radical Islam: What Christians need to know

Source: The quiet riot against insanity in America is gaining strength – American Thinker

There were two frustrating aspects of megachurch pastor Andy Stanley’s recent advocacy of theistic evolution.

The first, as already documented on these pages, was that Stanley’s position is at odds with the biblical story of creation, which he, as a pastor, is charged to defend. While the Northpoint Church Community head tried his hardest to synchronize Genesis with Darwin, the plain reading of Scripture doesn’t allow such a harmonization to take place.

The second frustrating aspect, which will be the focus of this article, is that those who preemptively disavow the creation account so as not to be seen in conflict with “the science,” are, ironically, not keeping up with the “the science” themselves as it pertains to evolutionary claims.

Far from discrediting theism, the latest scientific literature continues to drive a stake through the heart of Darwin’s original hypothesis.

This new evidence comes by way of an international journal called Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, which is a peer-reviewed publication established in 1950. It seeks to offer “informative and critical reviews of recent advances in different aspects of biophysics and molecular biology.”

We’re not talking about Internet randos posting on Wikipedia.

The journal published a paper not too long ago with this title: “Neo-Darwinism Must Mutate to Survive.” It was penned by one scholar at the University of Missouri-Columbia and another at the University of Texas at Arlington.

The authors waste no time in getting to their main idea:

“Darwinian evolution is a 19th century descriptive concept that itself has evolved. Selection by survival of the fittest was a captivating idea. Microevolution was biologically and empirically verified by discovery of mutations.

“There has been limited progress to the modern synthesis. The central focus of this perspective is to provide evidence to document that selection based on survival of the fittest is insufficient for other than microevolution.”

As a reminder, “microevolution” concerns the variation that exists within a particular species. It could be the result of environmental factors, like impacts on a local climate, or it could be man-made, as is the case with animal breeding.

The point is that this variation takes place within a specific group. Microevolution does not account for an entirely new species. Fish classifications are numerous, for instance, but they remain fish; they don’t mutate into frogs, crocodiles, or birds.

With that background, why do Olen Brown, who holds a Ph.D. in microbiology, and David Hullender, who is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, assert that “selection based on survival of the fittest is insufficient for other than microevolution?”

In short, it’s mathematically preposterous to infer macroevolutionary developments from microevolutionary observations.

They write that macroevolution has “shown to be probabilistically highly implausible (on the order of 10-50) when based on selection by survival of the fittest.”

Now, if you’re like me and still have no idea how you passed your high school precalculus class, you see a number like 10-50 and your brain shuts off in protest. Yet unlike my high school days, there are currently online tutorials that put the concept of negative exponents in layman’s terms.

You can see for yourself how many zeroes are to the right of the decimal point when calculating ten to the power of negative 50 as a possible outcome; basically, it’s a prospect that we non-mathematicians would call a … ridiculously absurd likelihood.

Brown and Hullender are distinguished university employees, so their conclusion is more academic sounding. But if you read the following paragraph carefully, you certainly get that ridiculously absurd likelihood vibe:

“Any overall mechanistic explanation of the origin and evolution of life ultimately must satisfy two challenges: the transition from non-life to life, and the blossoming of life forms that is so extreme as to appear outrageous.

“Evolution of a few flowers on a hillside is reasonably explained by mutation and selection; it stretches logic to explain the millions of extremely diverse species seen currently and in the fossil record.”

The duo note that such “probability assessment has largely been overlooked” for the simple fact that “evolution is generally accepted as scientifically established.”

The consensus attitude is, “It happened, we are here, so the probability is one.”

Expressed differently, today’s scientific community has assumed Darwinian evolution to be true because they are philosophically hostile to a theistic alternative.

Outspoken atheists like Richard Dawkins, for example, are so intent on making sense of “intelligent design” apart from God that they have been reduced to spit-balling guesses about space aliens or multiverse phenomena as potential answers to our fundamental questions about life’s origin.

This atheistic pre-commitment is less about science and more about absolving themselves (in their minds, at least) of accountability to a Holy God who requires our obedience.

Mathematical implausibility aside, proponents of Darwinian evolution are running up against another obstacle.

Charles Darwin’s theory, remember, is built on a model of transitionary phases, wherein lower lifeforms evolve into higher, more advanced ones through the method of natural selection and survival of the fittest. This process, we’re told, has taken place through incremental intervals spanning millions of years, eventually producing the most superior organism to date: humans.

This theory, it turns out, makes a big assumption: That these transitionary phases improve an organism’s chance of survival.

This assumption, however, is unwarranted, as Brown and Hullender maintain:

“[S]urvival of the fittest is illogical when proposed as adequate for selecting the origination of all complex, major, new body-types and metabolic functions because the multiple changes in multiple genomes that are required have intermediate stages without advantage; selection would not reasonably occur, and disadvantage or death would logically prevail.”

To paraphrase: What advantage does a half-evolved eye offer for survival? Or how about a three-quarters evolved lung? Or a two-thirds evolved genitalia? How do mammals even reproduce without fully functioning sex organs?

This is what Brown and Hullender are getting at when they assert that “survival of the fittest,” contrary to popular acceptance, is a death warrant to its recipient because the “evolved” organism is left physically vulnerable during these “intermediate stages.”

It’s as if creatures were first created in a mature, completed state.

Where have we read that before?

Any guesses, Andy Stanley?

The authors of “Neo-Darwinism Must Mutate to Survive” follow up with this bold statement:

“It is our perspective that the burden is too great for survival of the fittest to select evolutionary changes that accomplish all evolutionary novelty. Thus, evolution lacks a sufficient mechanism for multifactorial selections because a process that looks forward, is nonrandom, deterministic, or occurs by an unknown biological process, is required.”

Those words “nonrandom” and “deterministic” are important.

In context, they mean that our vastly fine-tuned universe cannot be explained rationally by a materialistic worldview that is premised on random, “non-purposeful” acts.

In Romans 1:20 the Apostle Paul states that God’s “invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made,” leaving us all “without excuse.”

Looks like modern-day science is reluctantly catching up.

Hopefully, American pastors will do the same.

Originally published at the Standing for Freedom Center. 

By Jason Mattera, Op-ed contributor| Monday, May 22, 2023

Source: Dear pastors: It’s OK to defend the creation account | Voice

For many Americans, Memorial Day represents the start of summer — the promise of warm, sunny days, evenings illuminated by fireflies, barbecues in the backyard, and trips to the beach.

But Memorial Day is not actually about any of that. It is a day to remember how the men and women of our Armed Forces have answered the call to give their lives to defend the people and the country they love. They have entered into the service willingly, knowing that the price of freedom is extraordinarily high.

The history of this national observance goes back to the Civil War. Following the war, people from both the North and South decorated graves with flags and flowers on what came to be known as “Decoration Day,” to honor the loved ones they had lost.

Now, we call the day “Memorial Day” to remember all of the men and women lost in all the wars this country has fought—more than one million people. Their sacrifices have guaranteed the freedoms that we enjoy today but often take for granted.

So let us reflect on two important lessons we can learn from these heroes:

1. There Are Things Worth Fighting For

Last year, I had the opportunity to visit the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial in Washington. As I looked at the memorial, a sculpture of the iconic image of soldiers raising the American flag at Iwo Jima, I was awed, once again of the brave actions of these men. In the hell of war, they persevered.

Today, many of us are fighting our own kinds of battles. We are battling illnesses, the loss of loved ones, and addictions. We are battling financial hardship and mental health issues. We are battling brokenness within our families and within ourselves. Many of us feel alone, overwhelmed by our struggle. We are tempted to surrender.

But I want to encourage you to keep fighting.

The men and women we remember on Memorial Day braved the enemy’s fire because they were fighting for a cause greater than themselves. In fact, if you ask them, many of our service members today will tell you they were inspired to enlist after 9/11, much in the same way the World War II generation did after the attack on Pearl Harbor. They enlisted because they loved their families and their country, and they counted it worthy to sacrifice their lives to protect them. For many of them, their faith compelled them to oppose evil and injustice and stand up for what was right.

Whatever you are battling, remember this: there are things worth fighting for.

2. The Power of Self-Sacrifice 

Throughout history, men and women of our nation’s Armed Forces have laid down their lives for us, and they continue to do so every day. The selfless actions of these men and women remind me of Jesus’ words to his disciples during the Last Supper: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13 ESV)

Now, more than ever is time for us to love and serve each other self-sacrificially. I am not saying that we should put our lives needlessly in danger for the sole purpose of a heroic deed. But if it’s within our means and ability, we should be ready to help those who are in need and bring comfort to those who are suffering.

John Bunyan, the author of the classic book Pilgrim’s Progress, once wrote, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”

The truth is, we will never be able to repay the men and women who have given their lives to protect our freedom. Their valiant sacrifices, and the sacrifices of their family members, are priceless. Yet while we may never be able to repay them, we can honor them by remembering them.

The Bible says to “give honor to whom honor is owed” (Romans 13:7). However we choose to celebrate this Memorial Day, let’s remember to honor the brave men and women who have fought and died for our freedom. May their patriotism and their love for God and country inspire us to do something selfless for those around us.

Dr. Jack Graham is the pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, one of the largest and fastest-growing churches in America. He is also a noted author, and his PowerPoint Ministries broadcasts are available in 92 countries and are heard daily in more than 740 cities.

https://www2.cbn.com/news/us/memorial-day-what-our-heroes-teach-us-about-how-fight-our-battles

Source: Memorial Day – What Our Heroes Teach Us About How to Fight Our Battles  | CBN News

I am the Editor of the Daily Devotions, News and Information WEB site and I would like to please get your help saving our family home!

Vincent S. Bocchieri

First and Foremost Please Pray that the Court System and the Attorneys for the Mortgage company will listen to reason and dismiss the 15 year old Foreclosure case against our Home!

Our Front Porch during a previous Presidential Election 😉

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